With over six million of his books in print worldwide, Stanislaw Lem is perhaps the most popular—and most critically acclaimed—science fiction writer of our day. In The Cyberiad he immerses the reader in a future run by and for machines—like those built by Trurl and Klapaucius, the great “cosmic constructors” who are, themselves, robots. The Cyberiad follows their escapades as they attempt to “out-invent” each other at home, or undertake (and often botch completely) gargantuan cybernetic feats in other galaxies: creating laser-eyed beasts, electronic push-button poetry-spouting bards, and machines that can construct anything in the universe…as long as it begins with the letter n.
Drawing on fairy tale, folk tale, and mythology—as well as modern philosophical and mathematical thought—Lem has created a brilliant, deeply resonant work of genius.
Translated from the Polish by Michael Kandel
Illustrated by Daniel Mróz
Editorial Reviews
"Lem has created a new genre." —Arthur Koestler
"Lem is capaable of an amazing richiness of image and a great knack for charcterization. He is wildly comic, he is sardonic, perplexing, insightful." —Thedore Sturgeon
About the Author
Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) was the most widely translated and best known science fiction author writing outside of the English language. Winner of the Kafka Prize, he was a contributor to many magazines, including the New Yorker, and the author of numerous works, including Solaris.
